RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (UPI) -- A study published Sunday said one
homosexual is killed every five days in Rio de Janeiro.
At least 50 homosexuals were killed between January and September of
this year in the Brazilian coastal city, with the real figure probably
much higher due to the reluctance of families to report the full
circumstances of the deaths, said the Bay Gay Group in a report in the
daily O Globo newspaper.
The group also said 1,200 homosexuals were killed throughout the
country between 1980 and 1991, with most of their bodies showing
evidence of a violent death.
The Rio gay organization's vice president, Hildes Cunha, claimed
about 10 percent of crimes against homosexuals were given a serious
investigation by police.
Cunha said the police only bothered with cases involving rich or
famous homosexuals, such as businessman Aparicio Basilio da Silva, whose
case was solved 10 days after he was found dead with 97 knife wounds.
The group's founder, Paulo Cesar Fernandes, said in the O Globo
report that Brazilian police preferred to register the crimes as
robberies that resulted in deaths rather than murders.
Observers agree the groups most at risk in Rio are transvestites and
homosexuals from abroad.
The Bay Gay Group's study came from police records, interviews with
families and newspaper reports.